This charming stage-trained comedy specialist had an intermittent but once beguiling screen career dating back to the mid-1960s. Long a critic's darling, Harris convinces as scatterbrained characters with endearing child-like qualities. This aptitude made her, for a time, something of a thinking man's Goldie Hawn. Harris made her film debut as social worker Sandra Markowitz (her real name) in the feature version of Herb Gardner's play "A Thousand Clowns" (1966). Her performances often garnered far better notices than the films that framed them. Harris' reprisal of her off-Broadway role as what VARIETY called a "nymphet chippie" in "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" (1967) was deemed the film's only saving grace in some circles. As a late arriving love interest of discontented rock star Dustin Hoffman in "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" (1971), Harris fared better than the star and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her efforts. British culture mag TIME OUT deemed the "delightful" Harris "wasted" as the married old flame of lecherous film producer Walter Matthau in a segment of Neil Simon's...

This charming stage-trained comedy specialist had an intermittent but once beguiling screen career dating back to the mid-1960s. Long a critic's darling, Harris convinces as scatterbrained characters with endearing child-like qualities. This aptitude made her, for a time, something of a thinking man's Goldie Hawn. Harris made her film debut as social worker Sandra Markowitz (her real name) in the feature version of Herb Gardner's play "A Thousand Clowns" (1966). Her performances often garnered far better notices than the films that framed them. Harris' reprisal of her off-Broadway role as what VARIETY called a "nymphet chippie" in "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad" (1967) was deemed the film's only saving grace in some circles. As a late arriving love interest of discontented rock star Dustin Hoffman in "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" (1971), Harris fared better than the star and received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her efforts. British culture mag TIME OUT deemed the "delightful" Harris "wasted" as the married old flame of lecherous film producer Walter Matthau in a segment of Neil Simon's "Plaza Suite" (1971), but she fared well opposite a cranky Jack Lemmon in the James Thurber-inspired "The War Between Men and Women" (1972).

Reprised the role of Rosalie for the film version of "Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad"

1974:

First film in starring role, "Mixed Company"

1987:

TV-movie debut, "The Liberators"

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Education

University of Chicago:
Chicago , Illinois -

Wright Junior College:
Chicago , Illinois -

Goodman School of Drama:
Chicago , Illinois -

Notes

Harris was the recipient of the New York Drama Critics Award for most promising new actress in Variety polls in 1961 and 1962.

Harris has amassed a number of major award nominations including a 1962 Tony for Best Featured Or Supporting Actress in a Musical Play, a 1966 Tony for Outstanding Musical Actress and a 1971 Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for "Who Is Harry Kellerman, And Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?".

From a review of Jerry Schatzberg's "The Seduction of Joe Tynan" in Variety, August 15, 1979: " ... As Alda's intelligent and frustrated wife, Barbara Harris gives the performance of her career, one that certainly merits Academy Award consideration. With a few brief gestures and meaningful glances, Harris communicates a world of emotion, looking from inside the fishbowl, and hating what she sees. It's a breathtaking job of acting, fully in keeping with the pic's pace and rhythm."